Friday, November 03, 2006

Gustav "Scary" Rehberger

[Gustav Rehberger] was born in Riedlingsdorf, Austria and showed early art talent. When he was age 13, he emigrated to Chicago with his family, and the next year won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago.

From that time, he continued to win competitions, but had to refuse two college scholarships because of the need to help support his family during the Depression. He took commercial artwork employment including graphic design, industrial design, illustration and some sculpture.

During World War II, he served in the United States Air Force and then established a studio in Carnegie Hall in New York City. He taught portrait painting, composition, figure drawing and figure painting at the Art Students League. Emphasizing the importance of education, he said: . . ."worthwhile art is never achieved by mere accident."

To which I would add, Rehberger (1910-1995) was a frequent contributor to many publications, including Coronet, Esquire, and Everywoman magazine.

5 comments:

...i studied anatomy with gustav rehberger in the early 80's at the art students league in nyc....he was a nice guy.....he would always do these larger than life, sweeping demos of the human figure on big newsprint pads,he would do these classical studies of the figure and be very dramatic about it...he always had a big friendly smile on his face and was approachable...in a funny way,he reminded me of a mad scientist!...but a NICE mad scientist!....he was probably in his 70's at that point...he was always very helpful to me...brian postman....

I studied with Rehberger from 1977 while I was in jr highschool. I was in and out of his class until his passing in 1995. he was the best teacher I ever had. A wonderful man. I was always zipping around on a track bike. He would always doodle some thing on the side of my drwaings. I still have a few gems.

He was always telling very corny joles while doing very serious figure drawings.Yes, a mad and very wonderful scientist.

I studied with Gustav Rehberger in the early 1990's. I was always amazed to witness his skill first hand. A very funny and kind man, I was incredibly saddened when went to register for one of classes in 1995 and was told that he had passed. He left me with a very special memory.